Sauber’s all-new driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Formula 2 champion and 2025 Formula 1 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto made their first public appearance together at the pre-event team press conference ahead of the F1 TV LIVE event in London today.
For Hulkenberg, the move back to Hinwill (Switzerland) marks a return to familiar surroundings. The experienced German previously raced for Sauber in 2013 and now rejoins the outfit for the 2025 season. Reflecting on his homecoming, Hulkenberg acknowledged the changes within the team while highlighting an atmosphere of optimism.
"I think the race team has changed quite a bit. Revives old memories. The atmosphere is pretty positive, pretty upbeat, keen and eager, ready to go," Hulkenberg said. "Obviously, the team had a challenging season last year but they are very motivated to turn things around and write a different story this year.
"Those problems were mainly in the first quarter of last season and they have really worked through most of them already last year, but there’s always room for improvement.
"I think on the operational side things were pretty good by the end. Obviously, car performance, that’s a different subject, but having done the Abu Dhabi test I was, not surprised, but the car performance was not that bad and not that far off what I was previously used to.
"The update they brought to Las Vegas at the end of last year was a big step forward for them and you could see the trend was going in the right trajectory and that’s obviously what we are going to continue and try and do this season."
Hulkenberg returns to Sauber at a pivotal time, with the team set to transition into Audi’s factory outfit in 2026. His experience will be key as they aim to build on the progress made in the latter stages of the 2024 campaign.
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